The article analyses the patterns in the horizontal structure of litter invertebrate communities in windbreak plantations in the Steppe zone of the Ukraine. The number of invertebrate species shows statistically insignificant changes depending on the extent of the litter horizon development. With an increase in litter mass from 300 to 900 g/m2 the number of invertebrate species increases. An increase in the total number of macrofauna is observed in areas having a minimum and maximum thickness of the litter layer. Maximum values in the Shannon diversity index were observed in areas with sparse litter (50–150 g/m2). An observed increase in the variety of macrofauna species were seen where there was sparse grass cover in windbreak planted areas. The total number of litter invertebrate individuals related to the percentage of projective cover of herbaceous plants shows a significant increase in plots with 20–28% cover, though this factor does not affect the number of Aranei, Carabidae, and Staphylinidae. There is a decrease in the number of litter invertebrate species in areas with higher numbers of Lasius platythorax Seifert, 1991, while there is an insignificant change in the overall numbers of macrofauna. The abundance of Myrmica scabrinodis Nylander, 1846 does not show a significant influence on the number of litter macrofauna species. The minimum values of the Shannon biodiversity index for macrofauna were registered in plots with maximum numbers of M. scabrinodis. With an increase in the abundance of ants, the abundance of litter saprophages and phytophages decreases. There are also significant changes in the dominance structure of other taxonomic groups. Biotic factors have greater significance for the horizontal structure of litter macrofauna of steppe plantations than abiotic factors.
The litter macrofauna of 8 plantations of Populus italica (Du Roi) Moench, P. deltoides Marsh. and P. alba L. was studied in the city of Dnipro. The invertebrates were taken by manual sifting of litter from experimental plots of 8 m 2 . The total number of litter macrofauna in the poplar plantations varied from 8 to 187 specimen/m 2 , on average 53 specimen/m 2 . The greatest variety of species was obtained from a white poplar plantation with common hop and an elm-poplar plantation with bare soil and Amorpha fruticosa L. bushes (15 and 9 species correspondingly). The maximum readings on the Shannon-Weaver diversity index come from the abovementioned areas (3.2 and 2.9 bits respectively). The highest number of zoophages (40%) was obtained from the white poplar plantation with common hop. There was great consistency in the species composition across the plots, with the same 60 species (more than 50% of the total number of species of litter macrofauna recorded in the study) being found in 7 out of the 8 study plots. The share of species rare for any given ecosystem exceeded 10% in only 2 out of the 8 plantations studied. The dominant group in the size structure of the litter macrofauna of the poplar plantations (44-96%) was invertebrates of 4-7 mm length. In 5 out of 8 poplar plantations no species over 15 mm in length were found. This indicates the degraded size structures of the litter macrofauna communities. In taxonomic structure the dominant groups were Formicidae, Pulmonata, Porcellionidae, Lygaeidae, Julidae, Silphidae, Araneae, Carabidae, Staphylinidae. The results obtained indicate the low variety and degradation of the trophic and size structure of the litter macrofauna of these urban poplar plantations, which are subject to lack of moisture.
The litter invertebrate community consists of species from different size, trophic and taxonomic groups. The distribution of the animal population of the litter horizon depends upon many factors, especially the content of the phytocoenosis, the projective herbaceous plant cover, moisture, litter thickness and the soil texture. This article analyses the variability of the main characteristics of litter invertebrate communities (total number, number of species, diversity according to the Shannon–Wiener and Pielou indices) on plots with different herbaceous plant composition and cover in plantations of Robinia pseudoacacia L. in the South steppe zone of Ukraine (territory of the “Tiligulsky” Regional Landscape Park). The taxonomic structure of the litter communities in the Robinia plantation was dominated by predatory groups of invertebrates (Carabidae, Aranea, Formicidae). The abundance of Julidae, Isopoda, Silphidae and Staphylinidae was relatively low. The studied forest plots were characterized by the simplified size structure of the litter macrofauna. The absence of species with body length of 16–20 mm and length over 20 mm indicates damage to the most significant trophic chains. The forest belt studied is in a highly disturbed condition, the plots being dominated by steppe species of herbaceous plants. The analyzed factors (diversity and extent of cover of herbaceous plants) do not determine the structure of the litter macrofauna community but affect it indirectly: a slight increase in the total number of invertebrates was observed in areas with minimal and maximum number of species of herbaceous plants. The relationship between the abundance of invertebrates and the percentage of herbaceous plant cover is manifested insignificantly. We noted a tendency for the number of invertebrate species to decrease along the gradient of herbaceous plant cover due to the concentration of dominant predatory species which exterminate other trophic groups of macrofauna.
As a result of research in the territory of livestock farms, 103 species of predatory Coleoptera were found, including Staphylinidae accounting for 51.4%, Histeridae – 27.3%, Carabidae – 21.3%. A total of 39 species of the Staphylinidae family were identified, belonging to 5 subfamilies: Oxytelinae, Steninae, Staphylininae, Tachyporinae, Aleocharinae. Species composition of staphylinids varied in relation to the types of animal rearing premises. In cowsheds and calf pens species diversity was higher (35 species). To study the peculiarities of feeding in laboratory conditions, we monitored 9 species of Staphylinidae: Philonthus addendus Sharp, Ph. cruentatus (Gmel.), Ph. rectangulus Sharp, Ph. varians (Payk.), Ph. spinipes Sharp, Ph. nitidus F., Creophilus maxillosus (L.), Ontholestes murinus (L.), Oxytelus sp. Feeding specialization of imagoes and larvae of different ages was studied. We determined that the mass of food consumed per day is higher than the weight of the beetles. Large species of staphylinids prefer feeding on average-aged larvae of flies and can eat puparia. Peculiarities of the development of coprophilous staphylinids were studied on the example of Ph. spinipes Sharp. During 24 h a female laid 1–3 eggs (in +28°С). Duration of the egg phase depends on the temperature regime (in +20 °С – 4–5, +28 °С – 3–4 days). Cessation of egg laying was observed with decrease in the temperature to +14 °С. The development takes part in three larval stages. Duration of the larva phase at +28 °С was 8–10 days, at +20 °С – 13–14 days. The first moulting was observed on the 2–3th days (in +28 °С) after the larvae emerged from the eggs. At +28 °С the pupa phase lasted 8–10 days. Decrease in temperature prolonged the rate of the development. At +24 °С it practically did not change (9–10 days), at +18 °С – increased to 13–15 days.
In Dnipropetrovsk sity (Ukraine, Dnipropetrovsk region) in carnivorous animals 10 species of parasites (helminths and coccidia) were found: Uncinaria sp., Ancylostoma sp., Dictyocaulus immitis (Nematoda, Strongylata), Strongyloides stercoralis (Nematoda, Rhabditata), Spirocerca lupi (Nematoda, Spirurata), Toxocara canis (Nematoda, Ascaridata), Trichuris vulpis (Nematoda, Trichurata), Dipylidium caninum (Cestoda, Hymenolepidata), Cystoisospora sp. and Toxoplasma gondii (Sporozoa, Coccidia). In soil S. stercoralisand Uncinaria sp. weredominanted. In most carnivorous animals registered in L. Globa park and T. Shevchenko park the S. stercoralisand Uncinaria sp., Cystoisosporasp. and T. gondii were found.
During hundreds of years, in large cities man has been forming a specific urban environment with original species composition of insect communities, including the most diverse group of predatory beetles – Staphylinidae family. Kyiv, Kharkiv, Dnipro are the three most populated cities of Ukraine. In the urban cenoses of these cities, over 140 species from 66 genera of Staphylinidae have been recorded. The total of 69 species (43 genera) were recorded in Kyiv, 67 (39 genera) in Dnipro and 66 (37 genera) in Kharkiv. Among them, , eight species in the catalogue of Palearctic staphylinds had not been previously recorded for Ukraine: Arpedium quadrum Grav., Atheta laticeps Thomson, Medon apicalis Kraatz, Ocalea rivularis Müll., Philonthus salinus Kiesenwetter, Quedius invreae Gridelli, Tasgius pedator Grav. and Xantholinus gallicus Coiffait. By number, common species accounted for 29 in Dnipro, 21 in Kyiv and 19 in Kharkiv. In all the metropolises, two species (Staphylinus caesareus Cederhjelm and Drusilla canaliculata (F.)) were identified as eudominants. Dominants and subdominants comprised 18–25 species. Almost two thirds of the fauna of staphylinids of the cities was classified as rare species. The lowest faunistic similarity was seen between the staphylinids of the urban cenoses of Dnipro and those in Kyiv and Kharkiv (15.3% and 17.5%), similarity was higher for Staphylinidae of Kyiv and Kharkiv (36.0%). Similarity by common species of staphylinids for Kyiv and Kharkiv equaled 73.9%, 28.2% for Dnipro and Kyiv and 37.1% for Dnipro and Kharkiv. The article offers a review of species diversity, number and ecological structure (biotopic confinedness, hygrothermal preference) of typical species of staphylinids in different urban cenoses of Kharkiv. Differences in qualitative-quantitative and ecological structures of staphylinids are related to the diversity of the conditions in a particular urban cenoses. The commonest representatives of the family in the metropolises were polytopic mesophilous carnivorous species.
In modern animal husbandry of Ukraine, there are still some unresolved issues related to the high number of zoophilic flies in the territories of facilities and the spread of animal infectious and parasitic diseases. A detailed study of bioecological peculiarities of the dominant zoophilic fly species contributes to improving the effectiveness of measures to control ectoparasites. 27 zoophilic fly species have been found in animal breeding complexes. The maximum number of parasitic Diptera species was recorded on cattle-keeping premises. The biological properties of Neomyia cornicina (Fabricius, 1781) (size, shape, colour, duration of preimaginal phase development) were studied. Also, we studied the dynamics of the number and daily activity of dominant fly species (Musca domestica Linnaeus, 1758, M. autumnalis De Geer, 1776, Stomoxys calcitrans (Linnaeus, 1758)). When studying the intraspecies competition, a high-degree survival of M. domestica and M. autumnalis was determined in the conditions of critical nutritional deficiency (0.5 g of nutrient medium per larva) and increased density of individuals (the imago emergence was 38.6% and 34.0%, respectively). In similar maintenance conditions, the emergence of N. cornicina imago was low (14.6%). With a two-fold increase in the insectarium volume and in the amount of nutrient medium (1 g per larva), the imago emergence of M. domestica, M. autumnalis and N. cornicina increased to 64.0%, 39.2%, and 24.0%, respectively. With an even greater increase in the amount of nutrient medium (2 g per larva), the maximum emergence of imagoes of all the studied fly species was observed (M. domestica, M. autumnalis, and N. cornicina: 96.6%, 91.2% and 72.6%, respectively). In the conditions of interspecific competition, M. autumnalis suppressed N. cornicina even in conditions of a sufficient amount of nutrient substrate. In the competition between M. domestica and M. autumnalis, house fly dominated. Increasing the nutrient medium volume narrowed the gap between the competing species.
Strongylata, Rhabditata and Ascaridata eelworms were found in wild hoofs (roe deers and wild boars) in Ukraine. Strongylata are presented by Globocephalus sp., Dictyocaulus viviparous (Bloch), D. еckerti Skrjabin, Muellerius sp., Cystocaulus sp., Protostrongylus sp., Haemonchus contortus Rundolphi, Marshallagia marshalli (Ransom), Nematodirus oiratianus Rajevskaja, Trichostrongylus axei (Cobbold), Bunostomum phlebotomum (Railliet), Oesophagostomum venulosus (Rudolphi), O. dentatm (Rudolphi) and Chabertia ovina (Raill.). The helmints Strongyloides papillosus Wedl, S. ransomi Scwartz et Al. and Ascaris suum (Goeze) were identified for Rhabditata and Ascaridata.
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